Men’s race for NORCECA’s berths at LA 2028 and World Cup 2027 coming up

The 2026 NORCECA Men's Volleyball Continental Championship will be held from September 11 to September 16 in Moncton, Canada with the top three teams in the final standings earning tickets to the 2027 FIVB Women’s Volleyball World Cup in Poland. The top four teams, other than next Olympic hosts United States, will advance to the NORCECA Continental Qualifier set to take place at the same venue on September 18 and 19 and will battle it out for a single ticket to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games men’s volleyball tournament.

In Moncton, eight teams will vie for continental honors and berths at the major world-level competitions. They are split into two round-robin pools of four. The pool winners will progress straight to the semifinals. The pool runners-up and the third-placed teams will engage in crossed quarterfinals, with the winners of those quarterfinals advancing to the semis, while the losers join the fourth-placed teams of the pools in the games for distributing the places from fifth to eighth in the final standings. The top four teams, excluding USA, will progress to the NORCECA Continental Qualifier, consisting of two semifinals and two classification matches and awarding one Olympic berth.

Hosts Canada will lead Group A. They are currently number 19 in the FIVB World Ranking and will be aiming at their second continental title, after their first triumph in 2015. They have plenty of other NORCECA Championship podium finishes – seven silvers and 15 bronzes. The Canadians finished runners-up at the previous two editions in 2021 and in 2023.

Puerto Rico and Mexico, the number 22 and number 25 teams in the World Ranking, are also set to compete in Group A. Puerto Rico celebrated a historic continental title in 2021 to add to the one silver and two bronze medals in their collection. Mexico have never reigned as continental champions, but have three silvers and three bronzes on their NORCECA record, with their most recent podium in 2021 as the third-placed team. The representatives of the small Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao, number 64 in the World Ranking, are the fourth team to compete in Group A.

USA are the heavy favorites for the NORCECA crown as the confederation’s highest ranked team – number five in the world. They are the defending champions from 2023, when they picked up their 10^th continental title, in addition to the 11 silver and three bronze medals on their NORCECA tally. The Americans are the only NORCECA team to have ever won the Olympics, three times at that – in 1984, 1988 and 2008, and the only NORCECA team to have ever won the FIVB World Championship – once in 1986. They are also the bronze medalists of the last Olympics in Paris and finished runners-up at this year’s Volleyball Nations League.

The most decorated team in the history of the NORCECA Championships Cuba, number 15 in the World Ranking, will probably be the main obstacle in USA’s campaign to win Group B. They have won the competition as many as 16 times, most recently in 2019, and have been on the podium another 10 times, with five silvers and five bronzes, finishing third at the last edition in 2023. Cuba are also the only NORCECA team, other than USA, to have medaled at major world-level competitions – with an Olympic bronze in 1976, and two silvers and two bronzes at the World Championships.

The world’s number 48 Dominican Republic, NORCECA silver medalists in 2017, and number 98 Guatemala complete the Group B lineup.

The 2026 NORCECA Men's Volleyball Continental Championship will open on Friday with a game between USA and Guatemala, serving off at 11:00 local time (14:00 UTC).

NORCECA Men's Volleyball Continental Championship: schedule and results

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